The Moon and SMART-1 at EGS Millennium Assembly

With ESA's SMART-1 leading the way in 2002, the first half of this decade
will be seeing a small flotilla of spacecraft exploring the Moon. These
projects and their lunar science objectives were evoked with enthousiasm
at the Annual General Assembly of the European Geophysical Society held
in Nice, France between 24-29 April.

The Lunar Exploration Open Session was convened by Bernard Foing, and
sponsored by the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG),
the European Space Agency and space agencies from France, Italy, Britain
and Germany. It brought together some of the world's leading lunar
scientists, engineers and project managers and was also the occasion to
present the latest findings from past missions.

Forty papers were presented orally, and there was a very lively poster
session. Science papers by Dunkin, Heather, Hiesinger, Koehler, Chevrel
and collaborators covered last results from the analysis of integrated
datasets from the Clementine and Lunar Prospector missions, in such fields
of research as the nature and creation of the Moon's basaltic maria, and
highlands, with emergence of "New views of the Moon". In this context,
Apollo sample analysis provides local ground truth and seismic
investigations allow a more precise measurement of the thickness of the
lunar crust. The eventual presence of ice or water-ice in the permanently
shadowed craters of the lunar South and North poles was evoked, notably
by Stuart Nozette, Project Manager for the Clementine orbiter mission
(1994) which provided initial radar data suggesting this possibility.

Vladimir Zharkov of Moscow Institute of Earth Physics presented his theory
on how the study of the lunar orbit provides important information about
the history of the Moon and the formation of our planet's continents.
Evidence for and against a possible "dynamo effect" of the Moon's core in
its past (which could shed light on lunar volcanism and the origin of the
magnetism of certain lunar rocks) was also discussed by Pierre Rochette
of the University of Aix-Marseille.

Several soil spectroscopy calibration facilities have been developed
in Europe and in the world for the interpretation of remote sensing
measurements (from X-ray, ultraviolet, visible, infarred and radio).
Patrick Pinet presented the Toulouse's Wide Field Spectral Imaging
Facility. This optical testbench, detector and light-source system
will use soil and mineral samples to evaluate data obtained with the
increasingly precise science cameras now equipping space missions.
Fifteen papers were presented in relation to the preparation of the
instruments and the science of SMART-1. The SMART-1 project manager
Giuseppe Racca, gave a status report on the spacecraft development. The
SMART-1 payload principal investigators presented to the community, the
goals and status of development of the AMIE, SIR, D-CIXS, SPEDE/EPDP
instruments. Upcoming lunar missions were described in great detail.
SMART-1 will probably be the first to leave for the Moon, as from the
end of 2002. Japan should follow in early 2003 with Lunar-A and its
ambitious scheme to fire penetrators, incorporating sensors, into the
Moon surface. Project Manager Hitoshi Mizutani (ISAS) explained that
"the objective is to measure 'moonquakes', providing additional seismic
constraints on the lunar core and deep internal structure". As the Lunar-A
orbiter will not be able to see the actual penetrator impacts, SMART-1
project scientist Bernard Foing suggested that the AMIE camera on ESA's
spacecraft could try to observe and locate them. The following Japanese
mission of ISAS/NASDA, Selene, is now scheduled for a 2004 launch according
to its Project Scientist Susumu Sasaki (ISAS). The mission includes an
orbiter and two sub-satellites carrying in all 10 different experiments,
including a high-power radar that will be able to sound the lunar crust to
a depth of 5km. More than 200 scientists are working on Selene and Bernard
Foing congratulated his Japanese colleagues: "The SMART-1 spacecraft may
have a "CAN" bus as used on the Mercedes-S, but Selene is surely the Rolls
Royce of lunar exploration".

The open session confirmed the general consensus that our knowledge of
the Moon will inevitably require in-situ robotic exploration. If only to
confirm the existence of ice as Stuart Nozette explained. "Before working
in the space field, I used to drill oil wells. On the basis of the
Clementine shadow and radar data, and Lunar Prospector neutron data, I
would say: 'Right, let's go-ahead and drill some test wells'. SMART-1's
instruments will certainly help map the shadows, but we still need
something active to actually look in and see whether the patch on the
wall of the Shackleton crater actually is ice. Ultimately, nobody is
going to believe you until you actually dig some out!"

New concepts for the wheels of lunar micro-rovers and a remotely operated
chemical and mineralogical analyser were presented during the lunar session.
Jean Heidmann (Observatoire de Paris) restated his proposal to establish a
radio-frequency observatory in a crater on the farside of the Moon, given
the increasing interfence from ground and Earth satellite systems.
Participants also learnt of the latest proposals on how oxygen, vital for
eventual human exploration, can be extracted from lunar materials, notably
from lunar glass.

At the end of the day, one could not but share the conviction that lunar
scientific and technical exploration is fully justified and must be pursued.
Earth's natural satellite is so close to us but in itself still holds so
many mysteries . "Furthermore, says ILEWG chairman Bernard Foing, "the Moon
and lunar missions are increasingly usefull as testbeds for other planetary
destinations (such as Mars and Mercury). The EGS 2000 lunar session, with
its wide variety of reaffirmed the importance of European and international
cooperation. The next steps for action and coordination will be discussed
during the 4th International Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of
the Moon (ICEUM4) to be held at ESTEC, Noordwijk, NL on 10-15 July 2000".

UK SCIENTISTS IN SMART MISSION TO THE MOON

The European Space Agency's Science Programme Committee has given the final
go-ahead to Smart-1, the first in a new line of space missions designed to
demonstrate new technologies.

Smart-1 will be the first ESA spacecraft to orbit the Moon. On board the
revolutionary spacecraft will be an innovative science instrument which has
largely been designed and built in the U.K. This small, lightweight
instrument, known as the Demonstration of a Compact Imaging X-ray
Spectrometer (D-CIXS), will reveal the composition of the Moon for the
first time.

"Despite decades of research, we have never fully discovered what the Moon
is made of," said Dr. Manuel Grande of Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, who
is the Principal Investigator for the D-CIXS instrument.

"The Apollo missions only explored the equatorial regions on the
Earth-facing side of the Moon, while other spacecraft only investigated
surface colour or searched for water and heavy elements," he explained.

D-CIXS will measure the Moon's surface composition by detecting X-rays
coming from the lunar surface. It is designed to seek out the different
minerals which make up lunar rocks by detecting X-rays emitted from the
surface.

"As X-rays from the Sun strike the Moon, they excite the rocky elements
such as silicon, calcium, magnesium and aluminium and iron," explained Dr.
Grande. "Secondary X-rays produced by these minerals give unique signatures
for each element. By studying these emissions, we can tell what the rocks
are made of."

"If the Moon is really made of green cheese, we'll be the first to tell the
world," he added.

The U.K. team hopes that D-CIXS will be the first of a new generation of
X-ray imagers for future planetary observation, including a possible
mission to the innermost planet, Mercury.

NOTES

Contributions to the development of D-CIXS have also been made by the
University of Sheffield; Queen Mary & Westfield College (London); the
Natural History Museum and the Observatory of University College, London.
Other participants include the University of Helsinki (Finland); the Max
Planck Institut fur Aeronomie (Germany); the Swedish Institute of Space
Physics; and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (USA).

Funding for the D-CIXS project has been provided by several partner
agencies of the British National Space Centre.

SMART-1 is the first of the Small Missions for Advanced Research in
Technology of ESA's Horizons 2000 Science programme. Scheduled for launch
to the Moon in 2002, the mission's main objective is to demonstrate
innovative and key technologies for scientific deep-space missions.

One of these key technologies is a solar electric (ion) engine, which will
provide the spacecraft's primary propulsion. This will be the first use of
such an ion engine for primary propulsion in Europe and is considered an
essential step towards cheaper missions with large velocity requirements,
such as a Mercury orbiter.